The 34-year-old has been forced to retire as a result of her “broken” body, but her penultimate race was marked by incredible resilience.
In a career spanning 17 years, Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn has been forced to retire from the sport as a result of multiple injuries taking their toll on her.
Last week the gold medalist revealed she had made the “hardest decision” of her life, in accepting that she could no longer continue with the sport.
Tuesday’s race at the World Championships in Sweeden was due to be her penultimate competition but after a shocking crash, it seemed like it might be her last.
In a horrendous looking crash, Lidnesy flew off a jump and careered into netting. After race officials and medics rushed to her aid, Vonn eventually got back up and skied tentatively down the course in Are, displaying the exemplary toughness she has become known for.
The former girlfriend of Tiger Woods was justly greeted with a round of applause from the crowd as she took off her skis.
Thankfully, Vonn escaped the crash relatively unharmed, with “just a black eye, sore ribs and stiff neck”. She took to Instagram to confirm she intends to compete in her final race on Sunday saying, “knocked down 999 times, stand up 1000” and joked:
“When I said I wanted to make memories in my final races this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
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Throughout her career, Lindsey has sustained multiple injuries, many of which she has remained silent about as she says:
“I have never wanted the storyline of my career to be about injuries”.
As a child, Lindsey was taught to ski by her grandfather and it was with him in mind that she pushed through the pain after a crash last year:
“My crash in Lake Louise last year was much more painful than I let on, but I continued to race because I wanted to win a medal in the Olympics for my late grandfather.”
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If adversity makes you stronger I think I’m the Hulk at this point….
— lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) February 5, 2019
Lindsey may be her own harshest critic but with 82 World Cup wins, 20 World Cup titles, three Olympic medals and seven World Championship medals under her belt she has achieved unparalleled success.
With the courage to dream and a grit to succeed, Lindsey can certainly hold her head high after her final race this Sunday. Indeed, she’s a woman to be looked up to.
20×20 is an ambitious two-year long initiative to better promote and champion women in sport.
With the tagline of “if she can’t see it, she can’t be it,” the 20×20 movement has three targets to reach by 2020:
- 20 percent more media coverage of women in sport
- 20 percent more female participation
- 20 percent more attendance at women’s competitions and events
And at Maximum Media, we’re proud that Her and SportsJOE is backing the 20×20 movement as official digital media partners.
